STAR FOOTBALL PREVIEW Sat: Aston Villa v Arsenal

It’s been an action-packed week of Premier League football and the biggest clash of the weekend might well take place when Aston Villa host Arsenal, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

League leaders Arsenal kept their recent momentum going with a hard-fought success against Brentford in midweek that made it 11 matches unbeaten in the Premier League, with eight wins and six clean sheets to boot in that time.

Aston Villa, heartbroken to finish just outside the Champions League places last season, have bounced back from a disastrous opening (failed to win any of their first six games) to sit third after winning 12 of their last 14 matches, including a 4-3 thriller at in-form Brighton on Wednesday.

That Villa came down from 2-0 there – in no small part thanks to a much-needed Ollie Watkins double, ending one of his longest ever goalless runs – speaks well for their character and their chances of a top four finish in what’s becoming a wide-open battle for next season’s European places.

If they’re to go one step further than last season and either win silverware or return to the Champions League then Villa’s home record will play a big role, and apart from an opening day draw against Newcastle and a 3-0 defeat to Palace when they were plainly off form, Villa have won all five of their home league games since.

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Aston Villa v Arsenal
Premier League
12:30 TNT Sports 1 HD / TNT Sports Ultimate / Discovery+

LAST FIVE STATS

HEAD-TO-HEAD
JAN 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa
AUG 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal
APR 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal 0-2 Aston Villa
DEC 2023 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal
FEB 2023 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal

ASTON VILLA
DEC 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Brighton 3-4 Aston Villa
NOV 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 1-0 Wolves
NOV 2025 EUROPA LEAGUE Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys
NOV 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Leeds 1-2 Aston Villa
NOV 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 4-0 Bournemouth

ARSENAL
DEC 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal 2-0 Brentford
NOV 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
NOV 2025 EUROPEAN CUP Arsenal 3-1 Bayern Munich
NOV 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal 4-1 Tottenham
NOV 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Sunderland 2-2 Arsenal

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Arsenal continue their title charge week by week relentlessly, although key injuries – like last season – are threatening to halt their charge. In addition to key long term injures to Gabriel, midfield anchor Declan Rice pulled up sharply against Brentford and is a doubt along with Cristhian Mosquera, who had done a fine job of replacing Gabriel so far. William Saliba could return here after missing the Brentford game but has not been described as being at full strength and Leandro Trossard, who has made such a key impact this season, hasn’t played since a calf issue in their Champions League victory against Bayern.

Mikel Merino – ? to find the net here – has been outstanding in leading the line for Arsenal and opened the scoring against Brentford, although the Gunners’ faithful will have been very pleased to see the return of Viktor Gyokeres against Brentford.

Given the quality of their performances this season, it’s understandable Arsenal are favourites but there’s no appeal in a price of ? with starsports.bet given Villa’s home record and the Gunners’ road performances.

Arsenal have played four of the current top ten sides in the league away and won just one of them, a scrappy 1-0 win at Manchester United when both sides were finding themselves (with a bit of luck thrown in for good measure). Elsewhere, they drew at admittedly high-flying Sunderland, weren’t able to impose themselves at Anfield when Liverpool won 1-0 and Chelsea were the better side despite going down to 10 men when they clashed last Sunday.

In the last season and a half, Villa have beaten Manchester City (twice), PSG, and Bayern Munich, and since losing this fixture last season – again in a game where the play didn’t reflect the final scoreline – Villa have lost just one of their last 25 Premier League home games.

Any outcome is possible here but Villa appear overpriced, and 10/11 about them avoiding defeat is the most appealing call.

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